The US accuses China of providing satellite support to the Houthis
Washington is now accusing China of having allied itself with Yemen's Iran-backed Shiite Houthis, who have long waged a war against shipping in the Red Sea, including attacks on US and Israeli warships.
The US State Department on Thursday published allegations against the Chinese company Chang Guang Satellite Technology , saying it is directly supporting attacks by Houthi fighters against American interests . This company is known to be close to the CCP government and is already under Western sanctions.
“We can confirm reports that Chang Guang Satellite Technology Company Limited (CGSTL) is directly supporting Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist attacks against U.S. interests,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a news briefing.
The statement was released in the wake of a Financial Times report that the company provides the Houthis with satellite imagery used to locate targets .
“The United States has repeatedly privately expressed its concerns to the Chinese government about Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co Ltd's role in supporting the Houthis, in order to pressure Beijing into taking action,” a US official quoted in the article said. But these warnings were allegedly 'ignored'.
CGSTL has long been described as close to the Chinese government and has been a central company in the country's military-civilian fusion program, which requires private sector companies to provide assistance to the government when requested.
The Chinese embassy in Washington denied knowledge of these new allegations related to support for the Houthis. Interestingly, the company's public documents present the company's purpose as providing “seismic services” .
And the links with the state are clear…
According to information on the company's background provided by the FT :
The Chinese company was founded in 2014 as a joint venture between the Jilin provincial government and a branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Changchun, the provincial capital.
“Chang Guang is one of the few 'ostensibly' commercial Chinese satellite companies that are actually deeply rooted in the military-civilian fusion ecosystem, providing global surveillance capabilities to civilian and military customers,” said James Mulvenon, an expert on Chinese military and intelligence services at Pamir Consulting.
It was previously subject to US sanctions in 2023 in relation to the war in Ukraine, for allegedly providing high-resolution satellite imagery to the Wagner Group, Russia's most notorious and controversial mercenary company.
The FT report indicates that CGSTL had 100 Chang Guang satellites in orbit last year and that there are ambitious plans to have 300 satellites orbiting Earth by the end of 2025, which would allow instant images of any location on the planet every ten minutes.
If it does indeed play a role in Yemen, it would further damage already strained U.S.-China relations amid the trade war, as the Houthis have often directly targeted U.S. warships, including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman , with drone and missile attacks. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vison is about to join the Truman in patrolling regional waters, partly due to heightened tensions with Iran.
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The article The US accuses China of providing satellite support to the Houthis comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/gli-usa-accusano-la-cina-di-fornire-supporto-satellitare-agli-houthi/ on Fri, 18 Apr 2025 09:00:01 +0000.